Spagnuolo Puts Blame On Himself

Spagnuolo puts blame on himself
BY JIM THOMAS
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
08/23/2009

The score was 14-0, Atlanta, before most spectators had a chance to dig into their popcorn Friday at the Edward Jones Dome. For a Rams franchise intent on showing the fan base that things will be different this season, it was the last thing they wanted to happen.

"Personally, I think it's all on the head coach," Spagnuolo said. "The first quarter, I don't think I had the team ready to play. I'm going to take the onus on that. We need to start the game better, especially against a good football team."

So what can Spagnuolo do differently to make sure his team gets out of the gate quicker?
"I don't know," he said. "Just like we evaluate the players, I'm going to evaluate myself all the time. I'll sit back this week, and if I think there's something we can do differently in practice we'll do it.

"If I think there's something we can say or approach (differently) the day before the game, we'll do that. But right now, if the team's not ready early like that, it's on the head coach. So we'll figure out a way."

Besides being outscored 14-0, the Rams were outgained 147 yards to 56 by Atlanta in the opening quarter. Spagnuolo said it's impossible to gauge whether or not a team is ready to play based on pregame warm-up or really anything else leading up to the game.

"I've stopped doing that in football," he said. "Sometimes you walk in there and say, 'This team's not ready to play.' And they go out and beat a team by 30 points. That's hard to assess."

Granted it came once the starters were done for the night and the reserves had taken over, but Spagnuolo was pleased with the fact that the team chipped away at the early deficit and was in position to tie or win the game in the fourth quarter.

SURGERY FOR FOSTER

The Rams' draft class of '09 took its first major injury hit, with Spagnuolo announcing Saturday that wide receiver Brooks Foster will be out six to eight weeks following ankle surgery.

Foster suffered what originally was termed a sprained ankle in the Aug. 14 preseason opener against the New York Jets. But additional testing revealed additional problems, so Foster underwent surgery on Friday.

The Rams must decide whether to place Foster on the injured reserve list. The fifth-round pick from North Carolina had some good moments on the practice field during training camp as well as in the scrimmage at Lindenwood University. But he had no catches in the Jets' game, and faced an uphill struggle on making the 53-man roster.

MORE ON INJURIES

As expected, Spagnuolo said wide receiver Donnie Avery (foot) and quarterback Marc Bulger (finger) would not play in Thursday's preseason game at Cincinnati.

Defensive tackle Adam Carriker (ankle) and wide receiver Tim Carter (groin) will do some field work (individual drills) this week, but Spagnuolo said they are questionable for the Bengals.

"If it was a regular-season game there was a possibility (Barron) could've played last night," Spagnuolo said. "But we felt it was smarter to kind of shut him down."

Left guard Jacob Bell (concussion) will do some running Sunday. If he suffers no post-concussion symptoms afterward, he will take another baseline test. Bell must pass that baseline test before he's cleared to play.

Defensive ends Eric Moore (ribs) and James Hall (sternum) are thought to be OK, but will be re-evaluated Sunday when the team returns to practice following a day off. Spagnuolo also said that running back Kenneth Darby "dinged" his knee but came out of the Falcons game OK.

Re: Spagnuolo Puts Blame On Himself

"The first quarter, I don't think I had the team ready to play. I'm going to take the onus on that.

So what can Spagnuolo do differently to make sure his team gets out of the gate quicker? "I don't know," he said.

Spagnuolo said it's impossible to gauge whether or not a team is ready to play based on pregame warm-up or really anything else leading up to the game.

"I've stopped doing that in football," he said. "Sometimes you walk in there and say, 'This team's not ready to play.' And they go out and beat a team by 30 points. That's hard to assess."

God I hate to even appear negative at this time, but there were some odd statements in here to me.

First he said it was on him that the team was not ready.

Then said he did "not know" what to do about it.

Then he said you can't assess weather they are ready or not.

I hate coach speak so I'm going to chalk it up to coach speak. I am not expecting miracles from the guy so all he had to say was, we've got to get better. But to be honest I almost thought this was Linehan speaking.

No. No! I am not bailing on the guy already. Because I think he'll make the changes that count. Like with the roster. He just needs to choose his words better, perhaps. Anyone else read this and was like, hmm?

Re: Spagnuolo Puts Blame On Himself

He blames himself for not having the team ready to play; yet claims there is no sure fire method to tell whether or not the team is ready to play.

Nice conundrum! Guess that's why they pay him the big bucks.

lol.. sarcasm, I love it.
(Disclaimer; I am in no way attempting to say that Spagnuolo is a bad coach or that we should even consider replacing him so don't go there. I just thought this was an odd couple o' statements of coach speak that almost directly contradict themselves.)